Our introduction to GTA IV - in this case, realtime gameplay from the Xbox 360 development version of the game - looks right at home on a stunning 65" HDTV.

"This is definitely the earliest we've ever shown a GTA game," says Rockstar's Hamish Brown, during our visit to the company's London office. "The reasons for that are not only because we're incredibly proud of how it looks at this early stage, but also because we want people to get an understanding of what we're trying to achieve with the game as early as possible."

"With GTA4," he says, "our approach is going to be slightly different. Not only are we showing the game earlier, but we're going to make sure there are surprises when gamers part with their hard-earned cash."

Up at Rockstar North in Scotland, UK, there are a couple hundred people working on the next Grand Theft Auto, along with the people that developed its RAGE-powered engine (last seen in the company's Table Tennis for Xbox 360) at Rockstar San Diego, plus a large number of researchers based in New York.

GTA4 isn't a sequel to San Andreas, but more of a successor to GTA III, says Rockstar. According to the company, GTA4 is a "completely different beast altogether". Whereas San Andreas was more like a shopping list, with more cars, more planes, more guns, this one is going for a more detailed and evolved experience, most obviously because the shackles of the previous generation of hardware have been removed.

"All the characters move in a much more naturalistic way," says Brown. "When I say that, I mean the simplest of things - the way the character actually feels when you're playing - it's that level of tactility - all the characters move in a much more naturalistic way, it's the level of detail in the car handling, the complexity of the storylines we're able to achieve now, and also, the massive level of interactivity with all aspects of the world. It's this level of fidelity and precision that's something we've dreamed about doing for the last 10 years - and we're now able to do it in GTA4."

The series has always straddled the line between freedom and directed action, and GTA4 is going to take this tack further. "The storyline has never been as important as it is now," says Brown. "But then, the things you can do in the world have been multiplied exponentially. There's a freedom of choice like you wouldn't believe."

The game tells a new story about an immigrant arriving in Rockstar's version of New York, Liberty City, how this outsider exists and survives in an alien, foreign world, and how that world reacts to and interacts with the player. "Of course, we're still influenced by different forms of entertainment, culture and media, but with GTA4 we do believe we're creating something wholly new. That's what's at the heart of GTA4, we haven't just borrowed stories from other films - it's something that's unique that we've come up with."

The new graphics make things seem much more real, but don't think that this means the Grand Theft Auto series has gone serious. Despite its somewhat grizzled appearance, the game will still bring the sort of satire and edginess that has propelled it to the top of the pile.

"It looks better and more realistic but it's not photorealistic, and I think there's a big difference there... our version of New York has been built to maximise the player's fun," explains Brown.

The game's main protagonist, Niko Bellic, is an eastern European that arrives in Liberty City on a boat. He's led a pretty dark, difficult and shady life back home and gets lured to Liberty City by his cousin Roman, who baits him with tales of the American Dream.

The new graphics make things seem much more real, but don't think that this means the Grand Theft Auto series has gone serious. Despite its somewhat grizzled appearance, the game will still bring the sort of satire and edginess that has propelled it to the top of the pile.http://games.aol.co.uk/walking-the-s...25112909990001